


Camp Echo **ON HIATUS**

by wholesomedumbass



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Multi, Mutual Pining, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Steve is a dork, Tony Loves Pepper, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, clint and natasha are peter's aunt and uncle, every time i write a fanfic tony is Head Over Heels for pepper, let t'challa take a nap 2k19, no beta we die like men, or women ig, pepper likes tony, pepper loves tony, peter's mom died, shuri and harkey are a chaotic duo, steve and bucky are engaged, steve and tony were roommates, they work at a summer camp, tony is kind of depressed, tony likes pepper
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2020-10-01 00:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20456003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wholesomedumbass/pseuds/wholesomedumbass
Summary: A few years after his mom passes away, Peter is sent to stay with his Aunt Natasha and Uncle Clint for the summer at the fancy fine arts camp where they teach. He meets some people from his dad's past, and makes some new friends, and decided that with the help of his Uncle Clint, his new friends Ned, MJ, Shuri, and Harley, and some interference from the lifeguards, he's going to reunite his dad with the girl he may or may not be in love with: his high-school crush Pepper Potts.





	1. In Which Peter Meets A Whole Bunch Of People

Peter knew that something was up when he walked into the house and his dad was sitting between Clint and Nat on the couch, being force-fed crackers and cheese by Natasha and having his ear talked off by Clint. As he walked in, all three turned to him with fake-smiles on their faces. 

“Pete!” Clint was actually smiling, as always. “How’s it going?”

“Good.” It had been just another day at school. 

“Peter, we have some exciting news,” his dad began.

“Tony! We were going to wait and surprise him!” Natasha chided. “But now’s as good a time as ever.”

“Peter, you’re going to spend the summer with your aunt and uncle at Camp Echo.

Peter had spent his entire life hearing about the amazing Camp Echo, which was some fancy fine-arts camp in upstate New York. His dad had gone there with Clint and Nat all through high school, and now Natasha was the ballet teacher and Clint was the rec director every summer. It was also where his dad had met his mom, but Peter didn’t bring that up. He never brought his mom up, his dad didn’t like to talk about her.

“As a camper? I don’t really do instruments or dance or anything- more of a science guy- 

“No, honey. You’d live with me and Clint in a faculty cabin, and spend the day helping in the rec hut, or hanging out with other kids during free periods, or just in the faculty area.”

“Is there WiFi?”

“There is in the staff dinner hall.”

“Okay, then. I’ll go.” 

“You really didn’t have a choice,” Clint chimed in. “You were coming with us whether you liked it or not.” 

“Clint! Kiddo, I would have let you stay here with me if you really hated the idea. But you’ll have a good time. I made friends there, had a great time there. Even if I really didn’t like to play the saxophone.” Peter looked at his dad and his dad looked back and he smiled. 

“When do I leave?”

Apparently, Peter left three days after school ended. So he packed for the summer, double checked that he had everything he needed, and then his dad drove him to Clint and Natasha’s tiny house just out of Queens. Peter had been ready to call shotgun for the drive up- it would be about three hours there and Natasha probably wouldn’t care if he took her seat- but when they pulled in, the seat was taken by Lucky the Pizza Dog, Clint and Nat’s mutt. Clint was listening to country music, of all things, and Natasha was rolling her eyes in the backseat. They loaded Peter’s stuff into the trunk and then he hugged his dad goodbye. Peter knew that he was being sent to the middle of the woods for an entire summer partly for fun, but mostly to give his dad some time to himself. After Peter’s mom passed away two years ago, his dad hadn’t gotten a break. He was glad. Tony hadn’t really gotten closure after it all, and Peter was sad to be away all summer but hoped his dad would be alright soon. 

\--

They arrived (he talked Natasha’s ears off for the entire ride up) and pulled into the small parking space next to their cabin which read PAVLOVA on a small sign.

“Is this our cabin?” Peter whispered. 

“Yes. Why are you whispering?”

“I thought maybe it belonged to someone else named Pavlova.”

“Anna Pavlova was a famous ballet dancer. Technically this is where two dance teachers are supposed to live, but spouses are allowed to live together. Clint should live in the rec area but he lets Scott stay there instead, and Pietro hangs out there on his nights off.”

“Who are Scott and Pietro?”

Clint sighed, but there was a smile on his face. “You’ll meet them, kid. Let’s go in.”

The cabin was small: it had a bunk bed and pull-out couch that had resided in Clint and Tony’s college dorm room (it was really Natasha’s bed for all of their college years), a little table and chair, and a few posters of dancers (Natasha’s) and Jim Carrey movies (Clint’s).  
Clint and Natasha changed into their “uniforms”, which was a green polo shirt and khakis. Peter didn’t have to wear a uniform, thank goodness, because he wasn’t a camper. He just pulled a flannel over his shirt and, after petting Lucky goodbye, walked with Clint and Natasha to the amphitheater for orientation. Once they walked there, Clint handed Peter off to a guy who managed to make the uniform look simultaneously casual and dorky, and a girl with her hair in a bun, calling out to the campers who were filing in “tuck in that shirt” and “we need to be able to see your name badge!” Peter was literally the only person not wearing a uniform and some kids looked at him curiously. The girl steered him to the front row and sat him down. 

“My name is Hope Van Dyne, I assume you’re Peter Parker-Stark? Clint and Natasha’s nephew?”

‘Yep. Well, not really. They’re not my real aunt and uncle, just my dad’s best friends.”

“Well, it’s nice to have you here. This is Scott. We work for your uncle, as the lifeguards-”

“SCOTTY!”

“HEY MAN! DIDN’T KNOW YOU GOT THE COUNSELOR JOB!”

“YEP ME AND WANDA ARE COUNSELORS AND UNOFFICIAL REC ASSISTANTS!”

“Pietro Maximoff, please stop screeching and set a good example!”

“Sorry, Wanda.”

“Those are the Maximoff twins, Wanda and Pietro. They’re a year younger than us, they play the piccolo and tuba, respectively. They Were campers last year and now they’re counselors, and, apparently, they've declared themselves our rec assistants. Scott, Pietro and Clint wreaked havoc last year, honestly, and I’d be scared to be in a pool that they supervised. Good thing Wanda and I have some common sense.”

Just then, a man in a button-down shirt and jeans walked onstage. The faculty in chairs on stage began to clap, and the kids and counselors followed suit. 

“Hi, guys, and welcome back to another great summer at Camp Echo! I’m Dr. Bruce Banner, your camp director, and I am so excited to share the next six weeks with you all. Now we’re going to meet your teachers for this summer: 

Mr T’Challa Udaku, the orchestra director,  
Ms Natasha Romanova, the ballet director,  
Ms Carol Danvers, the band director,  
Mr Wade Wilson, the theater director,  
Mr Clinton Barton, the rec director-”

“Call me Clint,” Clint yelled. Natasha rolled her eyes but Bruce merely chuckled. 

“And two new people joining us this year: Steven Rogers, the new art director-” Natasha’s face lit up onstage and Clint grinned, “And my new assistant director, Miss Virginia Potts!” Peter saw his aunt and uncle look absolutely shocked at this for some reason and exchange a look between them and then with Steve, the new art guy.  
“Thanks, Bruce. And you can call me Pepper. I attended Camp Echo for five years- I played the cello- and it was the best five summers of my life. I hope you all have fun these next seven weeks with your amazing teachers, wonderful staff, and of course with each other. And if you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to visit my office. Now, back at the cabins your counselors will go over some more rules but for now you are all dismissed.”

ONE WEEK LATER

Camp was a routine. Peter woke up at six, dressed and ate in the faculty hall. He went and sat in Natasha’s office all morning and watched the dancers (he took some really cool photos for the camp website), or satb on her computer. Then he ate lunch in the faculty hall. Then he went to the rec hut for the afternoon, either swimming when the other kids were in classes or playing DnD with the lifeguards. Apparently, they had a game going since two years ago when Clint had other lifeguards. Scott and Hope had joined next year when the other kids quit, Wanda and PIetro and Peter joined now, and all together it was a very fun campaign for this summer. Sometimes the guards would bring their instruments to serenade the swimmers or just the other guards, which was fine when Wanda played her piccolo. Pietro liked to play Megalovania on the tuba, though, which made Scott shake with laughter and Clint threaten to throw the instrument into the lake, which was infested with leeches (hence the pools). Scott had a crush on Hope, and she apparently didn’t feel the same way, so Peter and Scott spent a lot of time scheming to make Hope fall magically in love with him. 

Peter had read that girls like bad boys so Clint (who looked forward to Scott’s failure to find love as amusement every summer) dug out an old leather jacket and Pietro gelled Scott’s hair and Scott actually walked around in nothing but his swim trunks, leather jacket and whistle all day, while Wanda wolf-whistled from the lifeguard chair and Hope kept a determined straight face, as he exhibited everything he had learned from WikiHow’s “How To Be a Bad Boy” article. 

One day, Peter was sitting looking at Area 51 memes on Natasha’s computer when a voice said, “You’re not supposed to be here.” Peter whirled around and saw a tall girl with curly hair standing with a sketchbook in hand, looking bored. 

“Oh, I am. My aunt is Nat- Ms Romanova. She said I could sit here.”

“Just because your aunt teaches ballet doesn’t mean you can skip class and not wear this dumb old uniform.”

“I’m not a camper. I’m Peter,” Peter said.

‘I’m MJ. I’m here as an artist and Steve sent us all to find something to draw. The dancers are cool, so here I am. You don’t have any friends, do you?”

“Um-”  
‘Just saying. Wanna hang out with me and my friends Ned, Harley, Shuri and Kate today at rec time?”

‘Yeah. Yeah! Ok. Wanna get ice creams from the camp store?”

“Sure. We can all meet up at the pools.”

‘Sounds good. Um- I’ll let you draw, MJ. I’m going to find my uncle. See ya later!”

Peter ran to the rec hut, where Scott was tapping his drumsticks on the fence, and burst into the hut where Pietro was sitting on the secondhand couch, and Wanda stretched out on Scott’s bed. The radio was playing and Wanda was closing her eyes.

“I swear, Pietro, with Kate in my cabin and you and Scott here and being a college student I have had enough. Now is the time that we inherit an old castle, and then I can grow my hair really long, wear dresses all the time and write letters to you as I worry for your safety on your long, mysterious seafaring voyage while simultaneously being a lesbian”

“I am completely down to inherit a castle and go on that voyage as long as there are gay pirates involved,” Pietro commented.

“Ah, that’s the dream.” Wanda sighed and noticed Peter. “How’s your day going?”

“Good. I made some friends? MJ, Ned, Shuri, and Harley.” At that moment, a girl with long dark hair, aviator sunglasses and a purple shirt entered the rec hut.

“LUCKY! Who’s a good boy! Who’s a good boy-”

“Kate Bishop. You are late, Katie-Kate.”

“I am not late, I got permission from Pepper Potts to skip last week and finish up at archery camp. Who the futz are you guys?”

“I’m Peter. I’m Clint’s nephew. This is Pietro and Wanda and technically they’re counselors but they hang out here all the time and can fill in as lifeguards if we need. And that’s Hope in the lifeguard chair and Scott reading the comic book.”

“I’m Kate and I’m an assistant counselor and now, your full-time rec assistant. I have no training whatsoever and technically cannot be a lifeguard, so that sucks, but I’m here for non-pool activities. I help your uncle teach at the archery school in Bed-Stuy and sometimes crash at his place with Nat, who, by the way, is like the coolest person.”

“By sometimes she means , like, every night.”  
“Crashing on your couch because technically I’m homeless!” Kate sings as Lucky licks her legs (which are covered in Band-Aids). She dumps her bow next to Clint’s in a former umbrella stand that now holds the bows, a quiver of arrows, a piccolo and some loose drumsticks. Peter smiles because this girl seems like the sort of person that he’s going to spend a lot of time with. 

A while later rec time began and Peter met MJ, along with a boy in a fedora holding drumsticks (“Hi! I’m Ned!”), a really tall blond kid lugging a trumpet case (“Harley. Keener, Harley Keener”) and a smaller girl with Princess Leia buns that looked a bit like T’Challa the orchestra teacher holding maybe a violin case (“I’m Shuri Udaku and before you ask, this is a viola.”). They sat down at a picnic table and Peter was delighted to find that while they were at a fine arts camp, Ned and Shuri were both huge science nerds and Harley really liked engineering. Shuri turned out to be T’Challa’s sister, and their family went way back at this place: their great-grandpa had been the first orchestra director at the camp in the sixties and the Udaku family had never really left. Shuri’s mom had tried to get Shuri to play the violin, too, and Shuri had rebelled by picking the viola. She had been made to come here and listen to her brother teach for about five hours every day, which sucked for her, but she was getting through it. Ned was here because MJ told him to come and be her friend so nobody would try to talk to her and play drums all summer, which was what Ned would have done anyways. Harley was there as Shuri’s moral support and assistant in pranking T’Challa. Apparently, he still had a chalkboard in the Music Theory classroom and they put chalk between the sections of eraser, and T’Challa made Shuri stand up to play for all of morning rehearsal. Peter regaled them with tales of Scott and Pietro, Wanda and Hope, Clint and Lucky the PIzza Dog, until the rec bell rang and Peter ran to the dance studio with a monologue of IhavefriendsIhavefriendsIhavefriendsIhavefriends running through his head.


	2. In Which Peter Learns Things, And The Children Scheme

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter learns things, he schemes, and a wild Kate Bishop appears

Natasha was disgruntled as hell when he arrived and so Peter decided it wasn’t a great time. Natasha confirmed this when she looked up from lacing her ballet shoes (Peter saw the bandaids all over her feet and realized his aunt had been dancing since her private warm up at five-thirty in the morning, with only a few quick breaks to eat) and said “Peter, hon, this isn’t a great time. Sorry, kiddo. Maybe run to the administration offices and see if Pepper needs anything?”

So Peter walked to the office that read “Virginia Pepper Potts” on a nameplate (it was written on a piece of paper in the slot, not engraved, so apparently her new plate had not arrived) and knocked on the door and found Pepper barefoot in a nice business suit typing away. 

“Hi, Ms Potts. I’m Peter Parker, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanova’s nephew and I was wondering if you needed any help?”

“Oh, hello Peter. I’m Pepper, please call me Pepper. Um, if you don’t mind me asking, how exactly are you related to Clint and Natasha? I seem to recall them both being only children, but I’m probably thinking of someone else.”  
“Oh. Well, I’m actually not biologically related to them. Their best friend, Tony is my dad. Do you know my dad, Tony? And my mom-” Peter took a deep breath, “Isabella? They went here the same time as Clint and Nat.”

Pepper seemed shaken for a moment, and didn’t speak. Then she said “yes, I knew your parents. I was here at camp at the same time as them and attended high school with your father, and Clint and Natasha. I’m sorry, but right now I don’t really have anything to do, but I’ll give you a call when I do!” Peter took that as a cue to leave. 

At dinner, Peter puzzled over Pepper’s strange behavior (he had spent the rest of the day playing DnD with the rec crew) and when they got back to the cabin for a free night, he decided it would never hurt to ask. 

“Nat? Clint? What’s the deal with Pepper Potts, and my mom, and my dad?”

Natasha seemed startled. 

“Peter, I’ll tell you, but it’s weird amd teenagery and rule-breaky and you cannot let it change the way you see things, alright?” Peter nodded.

“Your dad liked Pepper for years, literal years, from seventh grade to the summer before college. And it wasn’t a schoolboy crush- he actually changed for her. You know your dad is stubborn as heck, he doesn’t like to be told how to be. But if Pepper had said she liked guys who were into baton-twirling, he probably would have dropped his guitar and picked up a baton the next day. And this went on, and Pepper never really showed interest in him, we never talked to at school or camp, we never crossed paths. 

Our second-to-last summer here that changed. I took an art secondary class here, on a whim, and so did Pep. We bonded over our shared lack or artistic skill, we hung out with Steve- Steve Rogers, he teaches here now- we hung out with him a lot, and Steve and Pepper became part of our group. Tony realized Pepper wasn’t some beautiful, genius goddess, she was a regular girl who was kind of a dork and who plays pop music on her cello and I think it made him like her more, and they became really close friends. Clint and I never once thought she could have romantic feelings for him. They went to the prom together, as friends, the two of them and me and Clint- we went as friends too, Peter, stop smirking- and it was great. And the next summer we were at camp for the last time. Tony was heading off to MIT and Pepper was going to Harvard Business School, I was off to Julliard and Clint was at Northeastern University. On our second night there, Tony told me to meet him at the theater at eleven-thirty. Just me. And he told me about this amazing girl. That was your mom. And he asked her to the camp dance, three days later, and Clint and I watched from the gazebo. Unfortunately, we looked around right after she said yes to see Pepper, holding a flower for Tony, about to ask him to the dance. For the second night in a week I skipped out on sleep listening to Pepper, this time with Steve, because she was in love with your dad too. They never got the timing right. And you know that your mom went to MIT with your dad, they got married soon after, had you. Et cetera. And I don’t know if Pepper ever stopped loving him, but I know she’s not in a relationship at the very least. And Peter Parker-Stark, if you meddle at all I will never let you come to camp again.” Because Peter was getting some ideas. His dad needed to move on from his mom’s death. Pepper clearly had feelings for his dad, and he was friends with a bunch of scheming geniuses and college kids with too much time on their hands. 

The very next day he went to the lifeguard’s hut first, instead of hanging around with the ballet class. 

“Uncle Clint? Tell me about Pepper Potts and my dad?”

“They were totally into each other and she didn’t make her move quick enough.”

“What’s that I hear about unrequited love?” Kate Bishop looked up from her slice of pizza (it was ten o’clock in the morning) and smirked, and so did Wanda (who had placed her head in Kate’s lap that morning and not moved, eating the occasional french fry provided by Hope). “I love unrequited love.”

“My dad might have a chance with the girl he was in love with back in high school.”

“Oh, shit. Who’s the lucky lady?”

“Pepper, the assistant director of the camp.”

“Wait. Are we going to help your dad cheat on your mom with the assistant director?” Hope looked kind of concerned. “I’m not going to let you do that.”

“Peter’s mom… passed away. A few years ago.” 

“Oh.” Hope seemed embarrassed. Luckily, at that moment, Scott ran into the hut, dripping wet, yelling “PIETRO PUSHED ME IN THE POOL!” and it was all forgotten.


	3. In Which They Casually Interrogate Pepper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunchtime with the faculty, Peter writes a letter, and Pepper is bad at hiding feelings.

At rec time, Peter explained the situation to his friends. Shuri and MJ declared the mission for the rest of the summer to be “Getting Peter’s Dad with Miss Potts”, and Shuri and Harley declared a truce with T’Challa. If a truce can really be called a truce when one side isn’t even fighting can be debated. Ned thought that this would be a good way to fill time this summer, and Harley volunteered the use of his potato gun, smuggled in his suitcase. When Shuri asked ho a potato gun would be of any use in setting up two adults, Harley shrugged. 

Peter had read a WikiHow article on setting people up. He decided to have Clint (who was in on the plan) talk up Tony to Pepper at dinner. Peter himself would write home to his dad about pepper and how great she was. Visitation Day was next week, and Harley, Ned and Shuri were going to set up a place for the two to meet (as “camp guides”, which did not exist) and finally, on the last day of camp, everybody was going to decorate the rec hut and Tony would hopefully ask Pepper out. 

Dear Dad:  
It’s me, ya boi. I’m having so much fun. I met some of your old friends who are working here now. Steve Rogers, an art guy, is actually the coolest EVER and he lets me hang out in the art studio with my friend MJ who takes art here. He tells me stories about you guys when you were here with Clint and Nat at dinner. Pepper Potts, one of your high school classmates, is here too. She’s the assistant director, which is so cool. She told me about when you met Mom here. She was sort of surprised to find out what happened to her. This is getting depressing, so I’ll just say that Pepper said to tell you hi. Hi from Pepper!

I am making friends. Shuri, Harley, MJ and Ned are all really nice and the same kind of nerdy that I am. Shuri is a literal prodigy. Like actually. She has an iq that I can’t even remember and she’s so cool and science-y. Harley likes mischief, specifically mischief with Shuri. Directed at Shuri’s brother, T’Challa, who’s the orchestra director. Ned is such a Hufflepuff. He’s a drummer and MJ is our art-student Slytherin. You probably have no idea what some of that means, but I really don’t know how to explain it to you any other way. 

Clint says hi, Natasha says hi, and Lucky the Pizza Dog says hi. Pepper Potts says hi, Steve says to keep out of trouble, and please tell Uncle Rhodey I hope you guys are having fun together. 

Your son,

Peter Parker-Stark

Peter sealed the letter and put it in the blue mailbox just out of the faculty hall, where he was hanging out today. There were all-day rehearsals, because it was a Friday. Scott and Wanda were helping out in the band classes, and Hope and Pietro were rehearsing in the staff band for a special performance that night. Kate and Clint had gone off-campus to practice archery for the day, so they wouldn’t get “out of practice” and Natasha had rehearsals with the advanced ballet class from eight in the morning to five pm. So Peter was alone. 

He finished the letter to his dad, took a long walk, and then pulled out his laptop. There was a tumblr message from his friend Harry, but it was just a Buzzfeed quiz called “Everybody Is A Mix Of A Buzzfeed Unsolved Guy And A Property Brother- Which Two Are You?”  
Peter was Shane and Drew. After that, he browsed Buzzfeed, Tumblr and Twitter for a minute but realized that Twitter only made him depressed. Then, thank god, the faculty and staff came in for a lunch break and filed ina round him. Natasha was griping to Clint, and Steve was laughing. Pepper was smiling next to Clint and they all sat around Peter: Nat and Clint on either side, Steve and Pepper across from him.   
“God, this is just like the old days. All of us sitting, eating camp food, making fun of Clint-” 

“Hey!” Clint protested, but Pepper just laughed. 

“Yeah,” Steve sighed, pouring himself some unknown red drink from a plastic pitcher. “Only thing missing is Tony. How is Tony, Peter?”

Peter looked up. “Um, he’s god. AFter my mom passed away, I’ve been trying to get him to hang out with women that aren’t Natasha, but it’s just Aunt Nast and nce Clint and Uncle Rhodey and me.”

“Your mom passed away? Isabella?” Steve looked genuinely saddened. “Was there a funeral, or a memorial? Natasha, you should have called me, I would have been there for Tones.”

“It was while you and Bucky were overseas, Steve. We would have written to you but we didn’t want to pull you away and weren’t sure if you could make it. And Tony’s been… withdrawn.”

“I’m sorry, are we talking about the same Tony Stark who once organized a flash mob in the cafeteria at Second Sunday lunch to sing “You Give Love A Bad Name” and then lost-”

“Dessert privileges for a week!” Pepper laughed. “Yes! I forgot that one!” 

“Remember when he and Izzy went to the camp dance together our last year, and she bought him a flower from the camp store? And he wore it in his cowboy hat all night?”

“Visiting them at MIT? And in their fourth year they got that tiny studio apartment and had us all drive in for Thanksgiving, because none of us really had family to go to? That’s when we first met Bucky, Steve!”

“Who the hell is Bucky?” Clint inquired.

“Remember? Steve’s boyfriend!” Natasha sing-songed.

“Fiance, actually.” Steve looked so smug as he showed off his ring. Pepper and Natasha scrutinized it carefully. 

“Pep,” Clint began in a fake-casual voice, “I always thought, before Isabella, that you and Tony would end up together.”

Pepper choked on her sloppy joe. Like, she was actually choking and Bruce Banner had to leap up from his chair two seats down and give her the heimlich maneuver. She gasped for air and clutched her friend’s purple button down (“Camp directors don’t need to wear the uniform,” he declared. “I always hated green, for some reason.”).

“Sorry, guys.” Pepper smiled. “Sorry, Clint, what was that?”

“Just saying how you and Tony always seemed like you’d end up together.” Clint shrugged. “What with our camp years, and Saturday Study Sessions And Spaghetti, and prom-”

“We went to prom as friends, like you and Nat.”

“Yeah. And I married Nat.”

“That isn’t relevant,” Pepper said before taking a sip of her water. She made a face, then grabbed a new cup and poured some red drink. The water tasted like eggs. 

Peter looked at Clint and smiled because there was no way Pepper wasn’t interested in his dad.


	4. In Which There Are Plans Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony finally comes up to visit.

Pete-

It’s me, ya dad. Glad you’re having fun. Steve Rogers is not the coolest ever, he’s a dork. Tell him Tony thinks he’s a dork. It’s good to know you’re making friends, they sound very nice. Uncle Rhodey and I are going camping soon, he wants to do extreme mountain stuff but I said “no way” and so we might go to Yellowstone for a weekend. The laboratory room feels empty, but at least I can play AC/DC without you yelling “I love Led Zeppelin!”. Your Uncle Ben stopped by with May a few days ago, they send their love. We talked about your mom, and they said that maybe I should start dating again. And when your wife’s brother says you should move on, maybe I should move on. I want to know what you think, though, so get back to me on that. 

It’s good to hear that Pepper is doing well. It’s too bad we fell out of touch in college. I’m coming to one of the visiting days, maybe we can go off-campus with my old camp buddies. 

Give Lucky the Pizza Dog a million kisses for me, hug your Aunt Natasha, fist-bump Clint and tell Steve he’s a dork. And let Pepper know that we should get together sometime soon with the old gang. Rhodey says hi, and that he’s going to send you a care package. 

LOL

Your dear old dad

Peter finished reading the letter with a flourish and looked at his friends expectantly. 

“Thoughts?”  
“Well, teach him that LOL means Laughing Out Loud, not Lots Of Love,” harley suggested. 

“It’s good that your aunt and uncle are encouraging him to get a girlfriend. It’s kind of like he feels like he has their permission? Because your uncle was your mom’s brother.”

“Good, Shuri. That’s the kind of analysis we need.”

Ned had been reading the letter himself. “He says he wants to go off-campus with his old camp buddies. So that means Pepper. Maybe you can finagle your way into Mr Rogers, Ms Romanava and Clint not being able to go?”

“Ned, you’re a genius.”

“I’d love to be helping,” MJ cut in, “but I have to be at art class early, I told Mr Rogers I’d help set up the kiln.” She darted away towards the artist’s colony, and Ned and Shuri began to talk about how they could keep Natasha and Clint and Steve away from lunch. Their best plan was to just… tell Clint, Natasha and Steve to not go to lunch. That night in the faculty cabins, while Peter played The Game of Life with the three of them, he asked them if they would politely refuse his dad’s invitation next Sunday. 

“But don’t tell him until he’s already made plans. Like, make something up at the last minute so that Pepper and him can’t not go.”

Tony wrote a letter to Natasha and Clint a few days later. 

What’s up, guys?

Just writing this (god, I feel like a teenager again) to ask if you two, Steve, and Pepper want to grab lunch with Peter and I off-campus when I visit next Sunday. You can call me when you get this, but I thought it would be fun to write a letter like the good old days. Rhodey says hi, and give my love to Lucky the Pizza Dog. 

Tony

“Hey, Tony? How’re you?”

“Steve Rogers! I’m doing okay, buddy. You know how it goes. God, I haven’t seen you since you deployed. How’s the bucket man?”

“Happily engaged to me. Heard about Isabella, dude. That sucks, I’m sorry.”

“Ah, well, that’s life. Hey, grab Clint and Nat and get them in on this Skype chat.”  
“There’s my favorite engineer? How are you? How’s Rhodes? Are you eating your protein and taking care of yourselves or just consuming junk food and caffeine?”

“Little Miss Ballerina getting on my case about eating healthy,” Tony joked. “Yes, Tasha. We’re great. Clint?”

“He’s in the rec hut with Peter, playing Dungeons and Dragons with his rec assistants. Peter’s a bard, Tony, you should be proud.”

“Following in his dad’s footsteps. Is Pepper there?”

“Er, no, but we asked about lunch and she says she’d be delighted.”

“Yeah, we’ll all be there. Bucky said he couldn’t make this weekend but he might come up next weekend.”

“Okay, cool. Look, guys, I gotta run. But we’ll talk. See you in a few days!”

\--A FEW DAYS LATER--

“DAD!”

“Peter!” Tony gave his son a hug, and then hugged Natasha, who was waiting with him. “How are you?”

“Great, dad. Never been better.”

“Okay, that’s- STEVE!”

Steve Rogers was jogging over to Tony and Peter, holding the hand of a dark-haired man with a prosthetic arm. 

“Tony Stark!” Steve hugged him, and then Tony shook the hand of Steve’s fiance- Bucky- with a grin. 

“Look, Tones, I am so sorry- really, but Bucky surprised me coming up today and he made us reservations. I won’t be able to make it.”

“Nonsense! Go with your boyfriend, have a nice lunch, make out in the parking lot like you used to, and we can hang out next time.”

“Okay, sounds good! We’re gonna run, but we should talk later!” Bucky and Steve had had their reservations for two weeks.   
Just then Natasha’s phone rang. It was Bruce Banner. 

“Hey, boss man. What? You’re kidding. Oh my god! Oh my god, is he okay? Okay. That’s good. How long? Oh, shoot. OKay. You owe me, doc.”

“Peter, you know Scott Lang?”

“Yeah, is he alright?”

“Um- he’s not terrific. There was an accident in the pool just a few minutes ago. He should be alright, burt he needs to go to the emergency room to get checked out. Clint took him, and Hope’s going too. I have to stay here, I’m one of the only teachers with a lifeguard license- even Kate doesn’t have one- and the twins aren’t legally allowed to watch kids in the pool. And some kids will be swimming today, so I’m sorry, Tony, but Clint and I can’t make it.”

“Oh god, looks like this lunch date wasn’t meant to be. Peter, let’s let Pepper know and we can hang around here, or go just the two of us.” Natasha ran off to the rec hut, and As Tony and Peter were discussing things, Pepper walked over, yelling “Peter! Tony!”

She was dressed in one of her nicer non-uniform outfits and she looked stunning, even though it was just a sundress and a jean jacket. Tony smiled wider than Peter had seen him smile in the last few years, and apparently abandoned his plans of canceling. 

“Pepper, the others can’t make it. Bucky surprised Steve with some reservations nearby, and there’s been a rec-hut-emergency that Clint and Natasha need to clean up. If you want to cancel, that’s alright, but I’d be on board with just grabbing something to eat, the three of us.”

“Sounds great to me.”


	5. In Which The Rec Hut Gang Gets Up To Some Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had to write a chapter about them so here, have this. It's short, sorry!

Natasha hadn’t been faking the emergency. The plan was to make something up about having to stay and talk to parents, but Scott Lang had actually nearly drowned. 

The Rec Hut Gang (which was also the name of their D&D group) was hanging out by the pools and Scott was swimming. He had jumped in first thing in the morning with Pietro, who had had the night before off and spent the night in the rec hut watching Die Hard. They had jumped in to go swimming, and them Hope had arrived and reminded Pietro that he had to be at breakfast with his campers. She had been down there with Kate and brought Scott a bagel, so he ate in the water while Hope sat on the lifeguard chair. Then after breakfast, parents and guardians started to arrive, so PIetro and Wanda had the entire day free. 

Pietro came over at lunch with Wanda, who was bearing Jimmy John’s sandwiches for everyone. He pulled off his shirt and cannonballed in. They played Marco Polo with two people, which was kind of a dumb idea, as Wanda pointed out. Hope hopped into the pool for a brief moment have a chicken fight: Wanda vs Pietro, with Hope and Scott as the vehicles. 

Then Hope went inside to change into a dry suit and hoodie, and Kate was on the rec hut couch watching The Office on the secondhand TV Clint had bought three years ago, and Wanda ran back to her cabin to check on the kids and chat with parents. And Scott and Pietro had the excellent idea to see who could hold their breath the longest underwater. 

A brief interlude here: Scott was a second-year student studying quantum physics. Hope’s father, Hank Pym, was respected in the field and Scott had gotten a job working as one of Hank’s assistants (Hope was the other one). Scott had had a pretty big crush on Hope, and she had liked him as… more than a friend. Anyways, things were going great between them- Hope was considering maybe even telling Scott how she felt- until Scott got in trouble with the law, and used some of Pym’s equipment in the process. This resulted in a few things:

-Scott was fired  
-Scott was put in a juvenile detention center  
-Hank and Hope were in lots of trouble. Lots.   
-Hope swore she wouldn’t have anything to do with Scott Lang, ever again  
-Hope still had/has feelings for Scott that she desperately wants to get rid of, but can’t

So Scott and Pietro were underwater, just hanging out and not breathing. Unsupervised. Keep in mind that they’re nineteen year old boys. 

Pietro had been swimming underwater while Scott stayed cross-legged in one spot. Finally, after three minutes, Pietro gasped for air.

“You win, Scott,” he said, just in time to see his friend faint dead away, still underwater. 

“HOPE! WANDA! CLINT! HOPE! HOPE! HOPE!” Pietro hollered, sprinting into the rec hut. Hope heard his yells and tore out of the rec hut, saw Scott in the pool, and dove in in Kate’s t-shirt and her jean shorts. She hooked her arm around his chest and pulled him up. Kate had run out too, and she helped Hope pull him up on the deck and lay him down. Kate ran in for towels. Hope began CPR, and Pietro called 911. 

“Scott. Scott!” She was started to tear up. 

“Scott, come on wake up!”

She was dimly aware of Kate placing a towel around her shoulders as she began to administer mouth-to-mouth. And then chest compressions, and then mouth-to-mouth again and she was in the third round of chest compressions when Scott opened his eyes and said, simply, ‘Hey.”

Hope was so glad that he wasn’t dead that she kissed him. He coughed and she pulled away. Kate was calling Clint, and an ambulance was here. Scott looked pale and blue and Clint was sprinting towards them. 

“What in the name of god happened here, Kate?”

“Scott almost drowned, Clint. We called the ambulance, it’s here.”

Clint wanted to take Scott to the ER on his own, but Hope refused to let go of his hand until he was taken away in the nearest hospital. Clint sat with her in an uncomfortable chair. 

“He’ll be okay, Van Dyne. You did good.”

“I know. I just hate hospitals. Really, really hate them.”

“Yeah. Natasha and I have seen our fair share. Only been to a hospital for a good reason once, when Peter was born and we sat in a room like this for hours. One of the happiest days of all of our lives, though.”

Hope smiled at that, then pulled out her phone in her pocket (she had grabbed it on the way to the ambulance) and played Fruit Ninja for a bit. Then Clint looked over at her. 

“So. You and Scott, huh?”

She groaned, and he smiled, and she knew he would be okay.


	6. In Which They Go On A Date, feat. Peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter accidentally third wheels. Yikes, I'm writing short chapters.

Pepper and Tony were in the front seat of the Parker-Stark Kia. Peter was in the back, pretending not to listen to their conversation as they caught up on college, Tony’s job in engineering and technology, Pepper teaching music for a while and then finding her way to Camp Echo, and reminiscing on old times. Peter scrolled his phone and they pulled into the parking lot of Sanctum. 

Sanctum was a nice restaurant, it served food from all over the world. The chefs, Stephen and Wong, were pretty amazing at what they did. A waitress with a nametag that said “Christine :)” on it came to take their order: Tony ordered shawarma, Pepper tried the sushi, and Peter got a Thai dish he couldn’t pronounce. 

Pepper was blushing, Tony was grinning, and Peter felt like a third wheel. Pepper nudged Tony’s arm, kept her hand there, and motioned towards his plate with her fork. He nodded and she took a bite. 

“Mmm,” she said with a smile. “Want to try my sushi?”

“I don’t like raw fish,” Tony said automatically. He really didn’t. Then he corrected himself. “But I’ll give it another shot.” He still hated it, but chewed and swallowed with minimal grimacing. 

“You can try my noodles,” Peter tried to say. They didn’t hear him. His phone dinged. 

Aunty Nat > how’s it going, little spider?

Peter B > great

Peter B > they shared food and she’s touching his arm

Aunty Nat > great!!

Aunty Nat > i have to go but we’ll talk when you guys get back ;)

“So you’re living in Manhattan, Pep?”

“Yep! Rooming with my friend Peggy Carter, who actually knows Steve through the military. And then Jane also lives with us, and her best friend Thor is kind-of-dating Bruce Banner- the camp director. So it all worked out in the end. Oh, and Jane’s apprentice, I guess you could call her, Darcy, is over a lot and so is Thor. It’s a crowded apartment.”

“Well, if it ever gets to chaotic, drive over to our place in Queens. It’s me and Pete-” it was, like, the first time he had been acknowledged all afternoon, “And Clint and Natasha are close by. And Steve lives in Brooklyn now with Bucky, so we could all get together. Get some shawarma.” Tony grinned and took a bite of food. Peter smiled and wished he could text his friends, but they were with their parents and weren’t allowed to have phones on campus anyways. 

Tony and Pepper were talking about their friend from school, someone named Maria Hill, and Peter decided for them that it was no longer a hangout, it was a date. 

Pepper and Peter and Clint and Natasha and Steve waved goodbye to Tony and Bucky, and then Pepper decided to head over to debrief with Bruce. The rest of the gang ran to the Pavlova cabin and cheered.

“They went on a date!”

“Yes! Good thinking, Nat, with the fake emergency.”

“Actually, Steve, one of my dumbass lifeguards almost drowned. But yeah, it all worked out.”

“Is Scott okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s fine. Hanging out with his girlfriend now.”

“His WHAT?!”

“Hope kissed him when he regained consciousness. We’ll talk. Did they flirt?”

“I don’t know. They barely acknowledged me, though.”

“Good.”

“What?”

“I mean good, they were focused on each other. Let’s hope this cheers them up.”


	7. In Which I Can No Longer Come Up With Chapter Titles (Chapter 7)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler alert: they're in love. 
> 
> Me? Uploading a long chapter? What? This might be kind of hard to read, sorry!

Tony grinned. He couldn’t stop grinning. Pepper Potts hadn’t changed a bit. She still wore her hair in the same ponytail she did in high school, and she smiled the same way at him at lunch that she had at prom. He had liked her. He had liked her a lot. If Isabella hadn’t come into his life he probably would have asked Pepper to the camp dance, and maybe he would have stayed in touch with Pepper in college, and maybe he would have married Pepper- no. 

He loved Izzy. He wouldn’t trade his life with her for anything, her and Peter, And no matter how brilliant pepper’s smile was, how pretty her hair was, how much she made him feel at home, he would not make a move on her. 

\--

Pepper sighed, sitting on Bruce’s desk with a Chinese takeout container. He smirked at her, and swiveled his chair around to watch The Big Bang Theory on the TV in the corner of the office. They both hated the show, and were making fun of it. 

“So, wanna tell me why you’re sighing like a lovesick teenager?”

“I think I went on a date with my high school crush.”

“Ooh. Wait, what?”

“His son is here at camp with Clint and Nat, and we were all going to catch up over lunch today, but the two of them ditched us and we went to a nice place and we talked the whole time and it was so nice. He’s a widower, though. I don’t want to get in the way of his grieving.”

“Widowed how long?”

“Few years,” Pepper said with a mouth full of food. 

“I’m no expert, Pep, but I think you should go for it. Not, like, try to seduce him, but go slow and show that you’re interested in him.”

“Ok. Yeah. Maybe Natasha can give me his phone number.”

“Yeah! Go get it now, and I’ll walk you through it.”

“I don’t want to seem desperate, Bruce.”

“I didn’t get a date with Thor by acting cool and aloof,” Bruce said.

“Yeah, you got it by beating him in a boxing match and giving him a black eye, and then his brother came up to you and said ‘my brother thinks you’re cute, here’s his number’ and then you texted him nonstop for the next two years.”

“Go get it!”

\--

Peter was alone in the cabin later that night. Clint was checking on Scott, and Natasha was supervising a dance performance in the auditorium. There was a knock on the door, and Peter figured it was Wanda (she came by often to ask for help or to just visit Nat and Clint), so he opened the door. It was Pepper, in sweatpants and a t-shirt that said SAKAAR BOXING CLUB (it belonged to Bruce, and before that it had belonged to Thor). 

“Hey, Peter,” he said awkwardly.

“Hi, Pepper. Come in, Clint should be back soon.”

“Oh, um, okay. Actually maybe you could heklp me. This is awkward, but if you have your dad’s phone number? I- I fgorgot to ask and wanted to thank him for lunch.”

“Sure!” Peter wrote it down for her, and she left.

Peter spun in happy circles around the cabin and laughed. Finally!

\--

Tony was with Rhodey, in the apartment, and he wasn’t thinking about Pepper.

Unknown Number> Hi! This is Pepper. Peter gave me your number.

Unknown Number> I just wanted to say thanks for lunch

“Who is it?”

“Pepper. It’s Pepper! What should I do?”

“Text her back.”

He changed the name in his phone. 

tony> yeah no problem

tony> it was really good to catch up

pepper> Yeah!

pepper> I’d love to do it again sometime, maybe you could drive up one more time before summer is over

tony> yeah that sounds great

“Oh my god she invited me up again to catch up more!”

“Just harmlessly flirt.”

tony> do u want to catch up with everyone or just me ;)

Pepper didn’t reply for a minute and Tony nearly had a heart attack. “Was that too flirty?”

“Nah.”

pepper> I mean, I’d like to get dinner with just you again

pepper> If that’s okay

Tony breathed a sigh of relief and showed the texts to Rhodey. 

“Let me take the wheel,” Rhodey grabbed the phone.

tony> great!

tony> i mean maybe this time we can leave my teenage son at home and it will be a much less awkward date

pepper> Oh, okay. 

pepper> I get to pick the restaurant though. 

tony> i’m fine with that

tony> good night pepper

pepper> Goodnight, Tony :)

“And that, my dear boy, is how it’s done.” Rhodey threw the phone at Tony. 

“She’s going to think I’m… I don’t know! That’s too forward!”

“But now you have a date.”

“Yeah,” Tony said, still not convinced. 

\--

“BRUCE! HELP, HE REPLIED,” Pepper screeched. “Text for me please.”

pepper> Yeah!

pepper> I’d love to do it again sometime, maybe you could drive up one more time before summer is over

tony> yeah that sounds great

“He says that it sounds great to drive up again before summer is over.”

“You asked him that? Oh god.”

tony> do u want to catch up with everyone or just me ;)

“He says, ‘do you want to catch up with everybody or just me winky emoji’”.

“Winky emoji from the emoji keyboard? Or semicolon parenthesis?”

“Semicolon parenthesis. So like flirty.”

“Ok. I want to catch up with just him and grab dinner like a real date but the Tony I know was always kinda flirty but not in a serious way. Like, wait a minute or two and see if he follows up with JK.”

They waited. There was no follow up.

pepper> I mean, I’d like to get dinner with just you again

“No, Bruce! Add ‘if that’s okay’ so he knows I’m not trying to move in on him like Baroness Schraeder or something.”

“Who is Baroness Schraeder?”

“In The Sound of Music, the lady that tries to marry the rich widower dad to get his money.”

“Oh. Okay.”

pepper> If that’s okay

tony> great!

tony> i mean maybe this time we can leave my teenage son at home and it will be a much less awkward date

“Okay! Yes! He says that maybe you can leave his teenage son at home and IT WILL BE A LESS AWKWARD DATE!”

“HE CALLED IT A DATE?”

“YES!”

“Okay, Bruce, let me text.” Pepper wrestled her phone away.

pepper> Oh, okay. 

“Add something flirty-slash-friendly to cut the awkwardness,” Bruce yelled. 

pepper> I get to pick the restaurant though. 

tony> i’m fine with that

tony> good night pepper

“And say goodnight back to him.”

pepper> Goodnight, Tony :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schemes.

“We gotta get my dad up here for the dance.”

“Why would your dad be here for the camp dance?”

“Well, that’s the problem. But Pepper was going to ask him to the dance years ago before he asked my mom, and she never got to. They can dance together!”

“Ask if they need chaperones,” Shuri said.

“There’s like a million chaperones here.”

“Just tel him to come up for a surprise!” Harley suggested.

“Nope, he would never. And he’d just ask Clint or Nat what was up.”

“Have him come up the day after, and then suggest he come up a day over to visit the camp.”

“Ned Leeds, you’re a genius and I love you.”

“Speaking of the dance,” Harley said, “Who are y’all going with?”

“You, dipshit,” Shuri said. “I don’t want any boys asking me. That reminds me, get me a flower from the camp store so that people know I’m taken.”

“Whyy,” Harley grumbled.

“Because you’re my best friend.”

“Fair.”

“I’m asking Betty, the flute player in my band class.”

“Nice, Ned. She’s pretty.”

“Thanks, MJ. Are you going with anyone?”

“Um, no. Peter? What about you?”

“I’m going to be matchmaking all night if you want to join me in that.”

“I’ll join you!” Harley volunteered.

“Me too.”

“I guess,” MJ said. 

“Great! I’ll talk to him tonight.”

\--

“Dad!”

“Underoos!”

“Hey, can you come up on Saturday?”

“Sure. I’d have to check with work, but I bet I could make it work. Rhodey’s going to some sort of trip with the American Legion, Carol and Maria are going too, so I’m free.”

“Awesome! Um, do you actually want to drive up Friday afternoon? And you can stay in the cabin with us, and everything!”

“You know what? That sounds great!”

They talked for a while longer and then Peter hung up and did a happy dance to Clint’s Weird Al Yankovic CD. 

\--

tony> i’m driviing up on friday night and spending the night in the pavlova cabin with the gang and then the whole day on saturday here

tony> so if u want to grab dinner on friday night that works for me

pepper> Actually, Friday night is the camp dance. I have to chaperone. 

tony> i’ll help u chaperone then?

pepper> Okay. 

pepper> It’s going to be really boring though. 

tony> it won’t be boring with you

Tony panicked because maybe this was too forward for both of them. 

tony> and clint and nat and steve

pepper> The old gang reuniting, chaperoning a dance for middle and high schoolers together. How fun. 

tony> not the whole gang

He didn’t mean to send it but the last time he had been at a camp dance it was with Izzy. He still wasn’t sure if he should be flirting with Pepper, getting dinners and chaperoning dances and everything. Those first few texts with Rhodey at the helm were fun, and made him smile into his pillow that night the way he did when she said yes to prom in senior year. But it boiled down to the fact that he was a single father, she was a camp director and music teacher, and they had flirted in high school. That was all they had to go off of in their relationship. And so Tony could not, would not, do anything romantic at all for the entire night.


	9. Hiatus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone i am back from the dead

hey guys-  
i've decided to put Camp Echo on hiatus. i started to write this six months ago and i'm just not excited about it anymore. i will be writing more, though- i plan to write a prequel to this with tony, natasha, clint, steve and pepper's teenage years at camp and i am going to finish this current work, just not anytime soon. i'm sorry!! i promise to write stuff soon!!

\- ya girl (rikky)


End file.
